Follow-Up on Rosalind Franklin

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Society
Edward Hessler

This is a follow-up to today's post (7.22.2020) about the commemorative 50p coin issued by the Bank of England to honor Rosalind Franklin.

When I posted it, I didn't know that the journal Nature will publish an editorial July 23, 2020 about her legacy which goes well beyond Photograph 51. If you don't know much about her, particularly her scientific career and contributions, the editorial is a a good place to start.

I include two quotes:

"She (Franklin) was a tireless investigator of Nature's secrets and worked across chemistry, biology, physics with a focus on research that mattered to society."

And the closing paragraph. "It is a travesty that Franklin is mostly remembered for not receiving full credit for her contributions to the discovery of DNA’s structure. That part of Franklin’s life story must never be forgotten, but she was so much more than the “wronged heroine”, and it’s time to recognize her for the full breadth and depth of her research career."

Here is the PDF, short and packed with details.